Ken Cuccinelli, Republicans dominate D.C. coal rally

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli joined other top Republicans in taking to the Capitol on Tuesday with thousands of other critics of the Obama administration’s so-called war on coal.

Cuccinelli, trailing in the polls just a week before Virginia voters cast ballots, was one of a host of politicians to make appearances at the rally, which was timed to coincide with a day of pro-coal, anti-regulation hearings inside the Capitol. Other speakers included Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), both facing potentially tough reelection fights in 2014.

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One after another, lawmakers took the stage and lambasted the Environmental Protection Agency — or what they called the “Employment Prevention Agency” and the “Excessive Punishment Agency” — to an enthusiastic crowd of coal miners and supporters. Current and retired miners came by the busload from Southwest Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Cuccinelli made a surprise appearance and promised to continue his fight against EPA’s “illegal war on coal” as long as he remains in office in Virginia. He lambasted his Democratic opponent, Terry McAuliffe, for not supporting the coal industry.

“Virginia is a coal state,” the Republican attorney general said. “We can’t have a governor that isn’t ready to step up” for coal miners.

McConnell pledged to “stop this war on coal” and do whatever is in his power to stop EPA’s planned regulations to limit greenhouse gases at power plants, saying Tuesday’s rally was “just the beginning.”

The Senate GOP leader said he will try to pass a Congressional Review Act resolution — a rarely successful tactic — to repeal EPA’s power plant rules. While President Barack Obama might not sign it, McConnell said he is “going to do anything we can to put it on his desk.”

But back in Kentucky, McConnell’s Democratic opponent questioned his effectiveness.

“Despite spending nearly 30 years in Washington, Mitch McConnell has failed to deliver solutions that could end the devastating job loss felt in Eastern and Western Kentucky,” Alison Lundergan Grimes charged in a statement. Grimes pledged to pursue funding for clean coal technology and to “stand up to members of her own party.”

But few other Democratic candidates appeared to be aggressively angling for coal votes. There were “not very many Democrats that came here today,” Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) told the crowd. “You need to talk to them.”

Rahall and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin were the only Democratic lawmakers at the rally. Both promised they’re ready to go to the mat for coal and touted legislation they’ve been working on to rein in the EPA.

“It’s essential to the future of the coal industry that we place people in Washington that are friends of coal,” Murray Energy employee Mitch Miracle told the crowd. And it is “essential that those who aren’t friends of coal, that we remove them.”

The GOP members sought to make clear to the crowd that they are, in fact, friends of coal.

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who is angling to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller, emceed the event, earning a joking “thank you, senator” from Kentucky GOP Rep. Hal Rogers. “Make no mistake — this is a war on coal. This is a war on American jobs,” Capito said.

“It seems to me if you’re not for coal, you’re not for the middle class,” said Republican Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, also facing a tough race in 2014.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), also on the ballot in 2014, said EPA’s climate change regulations are “driven by a group of leftist extremists.”